Much of this second episode was spent watching Carrie watching Brody – now semi-officially, thanks to some semi-bribery by Saul – who is struggling to adjust to life out of captivity. At least he has the American government watching his back, eh? Despite the big "reveal" at the end of last week, I think we were herded towards sympathy for him tonight. As he cowered in a corner, hounded by press and CIA alike, it was the agents who behaved in an underhand manner, essentially operating outside of the law and with dubious moral foundations. It's going to be interesting to see where it goes from here.

Brody

In his sleep, Brody is begging to be killed in Arabic, and hurting his wife Jessica (not Dana, apologies for that slightly uncomfortable mistake last week). He's spending his days in the corner of his bedroom and is refusing to talk to the journalists gathered outside his house. He does manage to punch one in the throat, though, for trespassing on his garden, before going awol for a few hours. When he returns home, to dinner with his family and Captain Mike, he refuses to bow to Mike's pressure on him to re-enlist, and says he won't be "some fuckin' poster boy for this bullshit war". Later, we see what he bought when he went walkabout: a prayer mat. He has converted. At the end of the episode, as Saul predicted, he talks to the press and starts "playing the hero card". But from what I can see, his hands remain behind his back, and no jazz-fingers are in play.

Carrie

Saul's FISA warrant grants Carrie the validation she needs to continue her surveillance – though it's likely she would have carried on, regardless – though she's also busy with another contact, Lynne Reed, a prince's consort whom she recruited in Bahrain. Again, Carrie's ruthlessness is clear. Lynne is obviously terrified and wants out, but, failing to get her official CIA protection, Carrie lies and tells her she's safe, anyway. I do not see this ending well. Lynne has filmed Abu Nazir and the CIA get very excited about it, asking her to download information from the prince's BlackBerry via a secret device hidden in a compact (what with this and the "Brazilian wax" meet-up code, this espionage is very lady-like). We also get to see some of Carrie's family life, and discover that the reason she is allowed to work in such a sensitive job with her illness is that ... well, they don't know about it. Her doctor sister is providing her with medication, off the books. And not very much of it. I do not see this ending well, either.

Notes and observations

Brody's flashbacks – the scenes that have been Hipstamatic-ed – seem to be dreams in this episode, and in one he's shot in the head, so I'm not sure how reliable last week's can be, after all.

I'm not convinced by the inconsistent attention to security, particularly from Carrie – she doesn't want to talk on an open line, but can't help giving out details when there are clearly people around her.

Brody has converted to Islam and he's now against this "bullshit" war, as he makes clear in no uncertain terms. But the idea that that's enough to make him a terrorist seems far too late-period-24 to me. Again, I'm left with the impression that we haven't really learned anything about anyone, yet.